Snapper

One of Australia's most popular fish the Snapper (Chrysophrys auratus) is characterised by bright blue spots on body that fade with age and a background colour of pinkish silver to red, hence the juvenile fish they are often refered to as 'Pinkies' in New South Wales.

As the fish get older some, but certainly not all, Snapper will develop a large bony hump on the head and a fleshy bulge on the snout. Depending on their habitat Snapper may also vary in colour. Open water reef fish will often be a brighter red than those found on sand or mud. As a general rule the typical snapper has a red pinkish colour  on the head and back andmay have blue flecks on the flanks with an off white belly.

With the exception of South Australia, New Zealand and Norfolk Island, where catches of 8 or 9 kg are not uncommon the majority of snapper now caught in Victorian waters weigh in between 0.4 to 5 kg. Norfolk Island is know to have record where occasional snapper ("reds") as heavy as 18 kg.  

Snapper are always a popular catch and offer excellent eating. They may also be refered to as cockney bream, reddies and squire, which are the names of juvenile snapper during different stages of their lifecycle. As they mature names such as 'red'; 'big red' and 'reddie' are common. In Western australia they are called 'Pink Snapper' and in other places Squire fish

The following snapper 'Fishing Techniques is described on www.sportsfish.com.au

Fishing Techniques: Because of the diversity of environments in which they live and the size range of the fish themselves, technique and tackle for snapper fishing vary immensely. For example a surf-caster on New Zealand's Ninety Mile Beach will use very different gear to that employed by a party-boat customer fishing the seabed in 100 m of water off Coffs Harbour, or a small-boat angler, chasing finicky winter reds in the shallows of Geelong's Corio Bay. However, despite the differences occasioned by geography, certain basics apply whenever and wherever snapper are found: In water of less than 40 m, the best results will usually be enjoyed by those anglers using un-weighted or lightly-weighted baits of cut fish flesh; particularly tuna, bonito, pilchards (whole or cut), garfish pieces, squid, octopus, prawn and crabs. In deeper water, sinkers weighing between 100 gm and 1 kg may be needed to take the bait or baits to the fish. Here prawns, squid and cut fish are often the favoured options. Rockhoppers and surf casters mainly use 60 to 120 gram sinkers and baits of octopus, squid, pilchard or cut fish flesh, but at dawn, dusk and after heavy seas, good fish can be taken close to the rocks on un-weighted or lightly-weighted "floaters". Big snapper will also succumb to live baits, and will occasionally strike lures, particularly jigs.